Liam Hoden

He may now not be joining up with Oldham Athletic, but the spectre of Ched Evans will continue to hang over Boundary Park this weekend.

And Andy Butler says Rovers will be ready to strike should Oldham prove to have been distracted by the Evans saga.

The Lancashire club has rarely dipped out of the national headlines as debate raged over the morals of signing a convicted rapist.

On Wednesday night, a deal for the former Sheffield United striker seemed certain to be done and there was even talk of him playing some role in tomorrow’s game with Rovers. By Thursday lunchtime it had all collapsed.

There will be sympathy with those involved on the playing side of things at Oldham should the week’s events have a negative affect on them this weekend.

Young manager Lee Johnson and his players have had to deal with a barrage of questions throughout the week as they tried to prepare in the best way they could for the visit of Doncaster.

Come the first whistle on Saturday however, Rovers will not be in a sympathetic mood according to defender Butler.

“Whether they’ve been distracted or not by the whole situation this week remains to be seen,” he told the Star.

“But we’ll be ready if they have been a bit distracted by it.

“We played really well over there in the cup last month and we’re determined to do even better this time around.

“They’ve not been doing so well recently but we know they’re a very good team so we’ll have to show the sort of performance we’ve been putting in recently if we’re going to get something.”

Defeat to Rovers in the FA Cup last month began a four match run of defeats from which Oldham have failed to emerge.

After a strong start to the season, Oldham have won just once in their last eight games.